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Other Festivals
The Inaugural Portland Folk Festival
- Details
- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Music
- Published on Thursday, 24 June 2010 00:33
- Written by Film Festival Traveler Staff
The Inaugural Portland Folk Festival has announced the preliminary line-up. A list of amazing artists will grace the stages of this year's inaugural festival.
The Portland Folk Festival will offer a rich and diverse sampling of music, art, craft, film, educational workshops and talks in handfuls of fantastic locations in Portland, Oregon August 20 - 22, 2010. Portland Folk Festival will be held over four days, with a different neighborhood focus each day. Music venues, pubs, galleries and interesting spaces throughout Downtown Portland, Alberta Arts District, Mississippi Avenue and Southeast Portland will host events through the day and night all weekend.
The Portland Folk Festival is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of the world's folk and traditional music, and to the vibrant community, forward-thinking quality of life, and spectacular natural beauty of our treasured home of Portland. With one foot firmly rooted in preserving and celebrating the lessons of the past, and one in working toward a sustainable future, we are dedicated to the study, evolution, expression and celebration of the music of the people. This is a wonderful opportunity for the community of Portland to come together and discover a world of music that's happening in their own backyard
Tickets for Portland Folk Festival are being sold online for $45. You will receive a badge that will get you into every show and event during the festival. Tickets for individual concerts will be available through each venue's online box office or at the door day of show.
About the Founders:
Development Director:Slim Moon is the founder of the legendary indie label Kill Rock Stars. Over the years he has worked in music in nearly every way imaginable - musician, record label owner, producer, roadie, booking agent, retailer, manager, festival organizer. Along the way, he has helped nurture the careers of dozens of bands and solo artists including Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, and Thao Nguyen. Raised in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, folk music is Slim's first and most enduring musical love.
Managing Director Amanda Stark was immersed in politics and folk music from an early age. Growing up in Canada, her interest in writers like Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie and the beat poets, drew her to the spoken word and folk movement in the United States in the early nineties. She spent several years touring internationally in the political punk folk band, Stark Raving Chandler, and went on to work as booking agent, promoter, publicist and artist manager. Amanda has worked with many exceptional artists, including Dan Bern, The Be Good Tanyas, Geoff Berner and Bitch and Animal. With a great appreciation for the wonderful festivals she has attended, and a grass roots approach to music business, Amanda has brought a long held dream of building a folk festival to her adopted home of Portland, Oregon.
Chantelle Hylton Simmons, Artistic Director, was raised on live music as hte daughter of a jazz singer,. While developing a career in news journalism in the spring of 2000 in Portland Oregon, she threw a party at the Medicine Hat Gallery, and was hired on the spot to take over the booking. Over the next 7 years in Portland she booked a show every night in almost a dozen music venues. In 2005 she started her own concert promotion company, Blackbird Presents, and with partner Mike McGonigal founded the Halleluwah Festival of Enthused Arts. In spring of 2007 while on vacation in New York City, she was offered the Senior Talent Buyer position at Knitting Factory, and spent almost three years in NYC until she missed Portland too much to stay away. She still books Brooklyn's Northside Festival (350+ bands over 4 days in more than 30 music venues), but can now do so from the 6 acres she and her family are developing into an organic farm and retreat space in Woodland, Washington.
World Science Festival Is a Work of Art
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- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Music
- Published on Monday, 31 May 2010 19:41
- Written by Perry Santanachote
The World Science Festival is a nonprofit event that brings together preeminent figures in science and the arts to engage the public. Since 2008, the annual festival has garnered a live audience of over 300,000 and two million on-line views.
It launches this years with an opening-night gala at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York City on June 2, 2010. The performance, honoring the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, begins at 7 p.m. with a star-studded lineup.
For starters, Tiler Peck of the New York City Ballet and David Hallberg of American Ballet Theater will pair up to dance the Adagio section of George Balanchine's "Apollo." Danny Burstein, of the Lincoln Center's South Pacific, will perform Monty Python's "Galaxy Song." Violinist Arturo Delmoni and jazz sensation Eldar Djangirov will also perform. And famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma will play a Persian musical version of the Icarus story, with the Silk Road Ensemble.
The evening will kick start the five-day-long festival, packed with 40 events across the city. Science-related lectures, discussions and performances will take place in museums, theaters, and on the streets.
Other highlights of the festival include:
A program with the artificial intelligence visionary Marvin Minsky at the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater on June 3 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., in which he joins a mathematician, astrobiologist, and philosopher in exploring the edges of human understanding. Minksy will also collaborate with digital composer Tod Machover, the creator of Guitar Hero, for a musical experiment that involves a chorus of robots and an aria from soprano Joélle Harvey. 
A mind-altering conversation between Oscar-winning filmmaker Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and neuroscientist Giulio Tononi, one of the world's leading sleep researchers. The discussion, which will be moderated by Alan Alda of M*A*S*H fame, will cast new light on the science of the mind and attempt to explain where consciousness is generated in the brain. This event takes place June 5 at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
The unveiling of the James Webb Space Telescope, the world's most powerful future space telescope at Battery Park on June 1, and on public display until Sunday, June 6, from 11 am – 6 pm daily. And don't miss the free stargazing party at the base of the 80-foot telescope on Friday night, June 4.
Tickets to each separate event are $30 for adults and $15 for students and children.
Visit http://www.worldsciencefestival.com for the complete schedule and locations.
World Science Festival
Opening Night Gala
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
1941 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
Hayden Planetarium Space Theater
American Museum of Natural History
79 St. & Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
Kaye Playhouse, Hunter College
695 Park Ave.
New York, NY 10065
Celebrate Flamenco at the Premiere of Festival Flamenco de Córdoba
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- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Music
- Published on Thursday, 06 May 2010 11:36
- Written by FFTraveler Staff
ads the premiere of Festival Flamenco de Córdoba at New York City’s Town Hall (123 W. 43rd St). His world-renowned Flamenco ensemble of award-winning dancers and musicians from Córdoba, Spain, is set to perform during a three-night series taking place June 10th - 12th, 2010, at 8 pm. The series features breathtaking performances of key flamenco styles including fandangos, soleá, bulerías, alegrías, taranto, guajira and seguiriya.
Hailing from Córdoba, Merengue de Córdoba is the son of a guitarist and husband to a celebrated flamenco bailaora, Concha Calero. He also founded the Academia de Baile y Guitarra. One of the most experienced performers and flamenco guitar teachers, Rafael Rodríguez-Fernández has brought forth young talents such as Vicente Amigo, Paco Serrano and Jose Antonio Rodriguez to the world stage.
Merengue has been playing guitar around the world for more than 50 years and expresses the joy of flamenco guitar in a comprehensible way. He was the first artist from Córdoba to be awarded the guitar prize at the Córdoba National Flamenco Art Contest in 1968 and has worked with the National Ballet of Spain; he also received numerous honors and gold badges from flamenco clubs and more than a hundred silver plaques in recognition of his work.
Now, for the first time ever, Centerline Talent will debut Merengue de Córdoba in New York, along with an ensemble of his finest dancers including Antonio Alcazar (Premio Nacional "Vicente Escudero" Award), Victoria Placios (Premio Nacional "La Malena" Award), and his two award winning daughters, Desirée Rodriguez Calero “La Merenguita” (Premio Nacional “Pilar López” Award), and Maria Angeles “Coco Calero” -- winner of the Primer Premio De Baile Flamenco “La Estepona Flamenca”.
Guitarist Alberto Lucena, who began playing guitar at the age of 10 and received the Premio Nacional "Manolo de Huelva" award, will also share the Town Hall stage.
This three-night spectacular transmit the emotions and spirit of flamenco that New York has yet to experience.
Tickets raning in prices from $60-$35 are available for purchase directly at Town Hall and via Ticketmaster.
Fpr more info go to: www.the-townhall-nyc.org
Festival Flamenco de Córdoba
June 10th - 12th, 2010
Town Hall
123 W. 43rd St.
New York
Miami's Ultra Music Festival
- Details
- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Music
- Published on Wednesday, 24 March 2010 07:27
- Written by Lynne Shannon
The 12th edition of Ultra Music Festival, a leading electronic music festival, runs March 26-28, 2010 at Bicentennial Park in Miami, Fla. With 16 stages featuring over 200 DJs, bands and producers, more than 100,000 international music enthusiasts are expected to attend.
Headliners include Tiësto and Deadmau5, along with live headliners Faithless Sound System, Groove Armada and Orbital are LMFAO, Sander Kleinenberg, Josh Wink, Hybrid (DJ set), Tania Vulcano, Afrojack, and more.
Adding to the strong and diverse electronic lineups are Florence from Florence and the Machine, who will perform with Swedish House Mafia on the Ultra Main Stage; and Kelis, who is set to team with Benny Benassi for several songs.
Hybrid will headline with a DJ set the UMF Radio stage in support of its new album Disappear Here, out March 29 on Distinctive Records.
Other artists include:
Baby Anne
Steve Aoki
Crystal Method
Paparazzi
Miss Nine
Green Velvet
Damian Marley & Nas
Fedde Le Grand
Joining them on the new Ultra Main Stage is Vello Virkhaus (VJV2), who is set to pilot both days. Ultra Music Festival will be the only place fans can experience these artists during Winter Music Conference.
This year, four new arenas to the festival grounds are added:
UMF Brasil Tent presented by We Love Brasil & Green Valley
UMF Ibiza Tent presented by Space Ibiza, a 2010 IDMA nominee for Best Global Club. Featuring Eric Prydz (exclusive), Dirty South (exclusive), Will.I.Am (exclusive), Felix Da Housecat (exclusive), Kaskade, Josh Wink and Space Ibiza resident Elio Riso.
Root Society Dome is "the biggest party dome on the planet," according to Root Society founder Captain Jeff Taylor. "I know Ultra is the place to release the Root Society brand after seven years in t
he desert sanctuary Burning Man."
Another addition to UMF is artist/composer Christopher Janney’s installation Sonic Forest, which provides an interactive, aural and visual component that entice festival goers into a unique environment. Triggered by both public interaction and electronic instruments, Sonic Forest is composed of 16 eight-foot tall aluminum poles that contain audio speakers, lights and photoelectric cells.
As people move closely by these "electronic trees," they trigger both melodic and environmental sounds, in a sense "playing the forest." When no one is moving in the space, the piece generates a series of preprogrammed patterns. During various parts of the installation, independent drummers join the environment, turning the Forest into a dance festival unto itself.
Over the past five years, Sonic Forest has been featured at Bonnaroo, All Points West and Coachella in the US, as well as the Download Festival, Hyde Park Calling, Wireless and Glastonbury Festivals in the U.K., the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands and the Zaragoza World’s Fair in Zaragoza, Spain.
For further information, visit www.ultramusicfestival.com.
Originally created as a pure EDM (electronic dance music) festival in 1999, Ultra has grown through the years to present not only the World’s hottest, biggest and best headline EDM artists, but also crossover headline bands that incorporate EDM elements in their music and have a history, or new beginning in the EDM community and culture.
Ultra Music Festival
March 26-28, 2010
Bicentennial Park
1075 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Florida
